Thousands join final journey of slain CRPF soldier in Agra village

Thousands of people joined the final journey of CRPF soldier Kaushal Kumar Rawat, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir, in an Agra village on Saturday.

Family members, government officials, politicians and the general public joined the procession, which began at 9 am in Karhai village.

Rawat's daughter Apoorva, who works for a private airline company in Delhi, and his other family members hoped his sacrifice would not go waste. They hoped Pakistan would get a fitting reply from India following the attack.

Members of the family have offered land in the village for a memorial for Rawat.

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Animal Husbandry S P Singh Baghel represented the state government at the procession.

The government has announced Rs 25 lakh each and a job to one family member of the 12 CRPF personnel from the state killed in the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist group on February 14. Forty CRPF jawans were killed in the attack.

Rawat was posted in Siliguri and was transferred to Srinagar. The attack targeted a convoy of CRPF jawans when they were heading to join duty in Srinagar.

Agra city is observing a 'bandh' to protest the Pulwama tragedy. Shops and other businesses remained closed and people took out rallies, raising slogans against Pakistan.

-PTI